According to the latest data provided by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) of China, in the first half of 2018, China’s total trade in IP royalty was US $22 billion, a year-on-year increase of 53.6%. Among them, the IP royalty export valued at US$ 2.737 billion, up 62.1%; the import valued at US $19.268 billion, up 52.5%, showing growth in both sectors with the export leading though.

Industry wise, still, the IP royalty in manufacturing sector ranked first in both the export and import: US $2.138 billion exported, up 53.2%, accounting for 78.1% of the total export; and US $13.559 billion imported, up 27.5%, accounting for 70.4% of the total import.

Category wise, the export of royalty fees for reproducing or distributing computer software ranked first among all categories in export, totaling US $2.153 billion, up 54.8%, accounting for 78.7%. The import of research and development results was the highest among all categories in import, totaling US$8.54 billion, up 31.7%, accounting for 44.3%.

Region wise, Guangdong province ranked first in both import and export of intellectual property royalties with totally US $2.284 billion exported, accounting for 83.4%; and US $5.849 billion imported, accounting for 30.4%.

In the first half of the year, the total trade deficit of China IP royalty was $16.531 billion, an increase of $5.585 billion over the same period in 2017. Germany, Japan, and the United States are the major contributors to this with the respective deficits as US $3.127 billion, $2.932 billion, and $2.46 billion, jointly accounting for 51.5% of the total deficit.

Overall, China's IP trade is still dominated by imports, with exports accounting for less than 15%, and the deficit is still expanding, which reflects that China still needs to improve in technology innovation and the quality of the IP rights.